Grinding mill



March 10, 1925- 1,529,533

A. M. ZIMMERMAN GRINDING MILL Filed Sept. 10, 1923 Patented Mar. 10, 1925.

ABRAHAM M. ZIMMERMAN, 0F LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA.

GRINDING MILL.

Application filed September 10, 1923. Serial No. 662,018.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ABRAHAM M. ZIM- MiiRMAN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Lancaster, in the county of Lancaster and State of Pennsylvania, have in vented certain new and useful Improvements in Grinding Mills; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in grinding mills such as may be employed for grinding feed, the invention being more particularly directed to an improved hopper construction.

One object of my present invention is to so construct the hopper of a grinding mill that bridging of material, such as unshelled corn, over the crushing devices shall be prevented.

A further object is to provide a hopper construction whereby the weight of the material under treatment shall be reduced to a minimum over the crushing devices.

A further object is to provide, in a hopper structure for a grinding mill, simple and efficient means to prevent material from being thrown out of the hopper by the rapidly rotating crushing devices.

A further object is to provide means in a hopper structure, which may be employed to prevent the too rapid feeding of grain, such as shelled corn, to the grinding devices and thus avoid clogging and undue work and strain on the mechanism as well as on the driving means.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts as hereinafter set forth and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a mill structure showing an embodiment of my invention.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view, and

Figure 3 is a sectional view illustrating the position of the cover member 12 when employed to prevent clogging of shelled corn.

' The base frame of the mill is represented at 1 and supports a hopper 2. This hopper is elongated in form, having a long,

gradually sloping bottom 3 and an inclined end member 4 which is disposed at approximately right angles to the sloping bottom 3 and at the juncture of the members 3 and t of the hopper, a concave 5 is formed. The opposite or higher end of the hopper may be closed as at 6, or, if desired the closure at this end of the hopper may be omitted and a trough extension 7 provided.

Over the concave portion 5, a shaft 8 is mounted in suitable bearings so as to be disposed transversely of the hopper and carries a plurality of spirally-arranged crushing lugs or fingers 9 which serve to crush ears of corn, for example, and to also feed the crushed material to grinding plates illustrated at 10 at one side of the hopper, and suitable means may be provided for regulating one of said plates relatively to the other but as these devices per se constitute no part of my present invention, they need not be further described herein; The shaft 8 projects beyond its bearings at one end and is provided with a pulley 11 to receive a strap from any suitable source of power.

A cover member 12 is hinged, as at 13., at the upper end of the end wall 4; of the hopper and is disposed over that portion of the latter over the crushing devices. plate or latch 14 is pivotally connected with the cover 12 and rests upon a transverse rod or bar 15 for supporting said cover member over a portion of the top of the hopper.

The rod or bar 15 has its ends fitted in the side walls of the hopper and also serves to provide a support for a curtain 16 which is suspended therefrom so as to depend within the hopper in position to prevent corn and cob particles from being thrown out of the hopper beyond the .cover member by the rapidly rotating crushing devices and the cover member 12 prevents the material being treated from being thrown upwardly out of the hopper.

By constructing the hopper elongated in form and having a gradually sloping bottom, near the lower end of which the crush ing devices are located, the ears of corn will slide downwardly over said bottom and will be met by the crushing devices and the corn will be prevented from so accumulating directly over the crushing devices as to cause sufficient weight to enable ears of corn I weighty accumulation 051" corn over the.

crushing devices. Y

When the mill is used for grinding shelled corn, it is Very desirable that a considerable Weight of the grain over the crushing and feeding devices shall not be permitted as sirc'h crushing and feeding devices would feed the grain too rapidly to the. grinding plates or disks and result in clogging and inplitting over work upon the same and 16 upon the driving mechan sm and may restilt in stopping the operation of the mill. fTo preijent such conditions, I utilize the "hinged coyer member to prevent the accull nulation of a large amount of grain directly l a l; over the crushing and feeding, devices;

Vhen the cover member 1.2 is thus utilized, it 'is caused to depend in an inclined position over the crushing and feeding devices and supported in such position by'lugs or pins i6; projecting inwardly from the sides o'tfthe h p e Sas Po i on f e ca ememb is illustrated n gt re 3 and when disposed in the. pos t on here shown, a considerable amount 0t grain may be permitted to accu 80 m late. in: the body portion of the hopper,

as ilhistrated by the lines 17 and 18 but its entranceto thespace over the crushing and feeding devices be restricted by the inclineid cover member 12 and only such 85 amount be allowed ithin the chamber formed by the end Wall 4 and the cover member 12 to enable the normal feeding of the grain to the grinding mechanism Without subjecting the to strain and to avoid (0 clogging." The amount of; grain normally in saidchamber maybe such "as indicated by the dotted line 19 inFigure 3.

\ l-laving fully described my invention What I claim as new and desire to secure by Let- 46 ters Patent, is:

1. In a grinding mill of the character described, the combination of an GlOI gated hopper having an inclined bottom, an end wall at appro'nimately right angle to the 50 bottom at the lower end thereof, and a concave iiniting the bottom and the end Wall in a continuous imperforate structure, and

crushing and feeding means located in prox imity to" the concave.

2.111 a grinding mill of the character described, the combination of an elongated h p r having a i lperferete inclined tom merging at its lower end into an imperforate end Wall, the latter being disposed at approximately right angles to said bottom,a'nd= crushing and feeding means with in the hopper in proximity to the bottom and the end Wall. i I

In a grinding mill of the character desc d' l1 wi ibi i ti e at a l r a g n e -hive memb r n tli e h pp d ia en th e d W th reof; QQ Q li e' to the end all extending forwardly therefrom ot er the feedingfan'd crushing member, and neansjwhereby the cover inay be supported a tfthe topo-tt'he hopper or in I a e ee' t en xe-ne wee th eeling and crushing member.

a. In a grinding mill of the character decr bed. h were an vi 'ier'r u' crushin I wd eedingmernb er thereinjaniad e cover aboye and feed ing member, and a freely s viringihg curtain in adva o t e cru h ng nd fee-t t e 9 4 .7-

grinding mill comprising elongated hoppe have been a ri -re e t crushing and feeding means arranged Within the hopper at the jurncture of the bottom a he d. e d exte fd fie'e e h hopper above and in adi ance of the said means, a curtain depending i'rom said rod, studs on sides: of hopperadjacent the crushing, and feeding means, a cover member hinged to the upper endofthe end Wall and adapted to erra a downwardly and tory fh'eli iren t e t Q i sa d S d n a atch. 01 he eve-membe apte gage said and support; tliecoyer member in a position extending along the rapier the h pp a r In testimony whereof I have signed this p c fie ii t e 'pre el Of tw fi c ing Witnesses. i i M VVnAVnR W; MARTIN. 

